Sharna Burgess just revealed one of the show’s biggest changes to Season 28. The Dancing With the Stars alum, who famously was not asked to return as a pro for the latest season, says she has been keeping in touch with her fellow pros and former partners.
The reigning mirrorball champion won Season 27 with Bobby Bones and recently reunited with him for a chat on the new episode of his BobbyCast podcast. During the candid conversation with her friend, Burgess revealed a big change to the new season that is affecting how things work off-camera.
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“I’m not entirely sure everybody knows but the dancers no longer get to design their dances,” she said on the podcast, as first reported by Entertainment Tonight. “Every week, you know how I was in the creative process — the song, the set, the colors, the costumes, everything — came from my brain, was built with a team. Now the dancers just get their creative concepts given to them. They get told what they’re wearing, what their set is, what their song is, everything. So, they don’t have that creative say in these pieces anymore.”
Burgess elaborated by saying she was not sure how the rule change would affect the upcoming freestyle round.
“They may when it gets to the freestyle, I don’t know, because then it becomes their jam, but week to week it’s no longer Lindsay [Arnold]’s creativity, it’s no longer Val [Chmerkovskiy]’s creativity; it’s all done for them by the new creative director that’s working on the show,” she added. “I actually find that really interesting.
The dancer said she didn’t have an opinion on the change, since she is not participating on the show this season. However, she said she would “struggle” with giving up creative control because her dancing is not “just about the steps.”
“If you’re giving me a full piece that’s already done and then just asking me to put steps to it, it’s like giving me your biography and then asking me to write your last chapter but I know nothing about you,” she said. “For me, that just seems disjointed. But it seems like everyone is still creating great content anyway, and maybe it just helps everything work smoother behind the scenes.”
Another big change to the rules making headlines this season has been harsher scores for the performances from judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli.
In an interview with PopCulture.com, pro Jenna Johnson spoke about how audience voting is more important than ever in Season 28. Her comments came as she believed her partner Karamo Brown did not deserve the low scores he has been getting in the past few weeks.
“This season, especially with the new voting system, it’s so crucial for the fans to be as engaged as possible,” Johnson said. “We would love all the votes and we would love to continue this journey!”
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